new challenges for 2014

Wow! What a response to my Linear Refraction 60° Triangle and Parallelogram Quilt. Thank you so much for your support and warm comments. It really made my day and felt wonderful! I think everyone knows just how much it means when you receive a little recognition every so often. And with that in mind, I have joined several BOM (Block of the Month) programs and a block lottery. I was so inspired by reading all of your comments and visiting YOUR websites, I didn't want to miss out on all of the fun!

My first new program for this year is Cattinkas Hasenbach Challenge. I wanted to participate last year, but it filled up before the first week of enrollment was over! (or so I have it in my memories) Katrin organizes this program every year! I now her in real life as well, and she is really nice and has a great sense of humor! We are going on a weekend quilting retreat at the end of the month together with our patchwork group.

In this program, it is not set in stone what you have to make each month; it just has to be from one of Claudia Hasenbach's foundation pieced patterns, basically. I used to do a lot of foundation piecing in the past, but got a little bored with it after a while. We will see how long it keeps my interest. You can learn more about the challenge by clicking the picture below.

My second new challenge is a program with a lottery!! Yeahh! I might actually win something...lots and lots of blocks...the next best thing to winning fabric. ;-) This caught my attention, because there is no obligation. You can participate one month or not. You may donate blocks if you want and just watch the lottery. There are some regulations such as a particular color scheme to keep all of the blocks unified. That's clever! I not only will make blocks for the lottery, I decided I would make one block in the colorway of my choice to keep and make a BOM as suggested by Jean-sophie. My six year old daughter and I sewed together the first blocks on the weekend. She did a really good job!

You can read more about the block lottery by clicking on the picture below. Here are my first blocks for the Lotto!

Next up is the North Pole QAL (Quilt a Long) with Val Spiers. This actually started last year, but Katrin twisted my arm and is making participate in this one since I already had the book and all. ;.) I saw this pattern several years ago (when I was in my foundation craze) and bought it. Everything in the book is appliqué though. So it got put on hold. I worked out a version that was horizontal rather than vertical. We'll see how it goes. I am excited about those Christmas colors again. You can learn more about it by clicking the picture below.

And last but definitely not least, the Sew Kitschy BOM!! I think there are quite a few of you out there that are extremely excited about this one! I am not sure what turned me on so much the simplicity or the kitsch! I love retro! I think that's what did it. You can even purchase the entire pattern collection via Craftsy if you want in advance and skip the BOM. I am going for the monthly free foundation patterns. I am going to let the others sew first to see exactly how I want my blocks with beautiful retro fabrics. Oh, and if you were wondering what the fabric were at the top of the post, they are more than likely going to be my pick for Sew Kitschy!

You can learn more about the BOM by clicking the picture below.

That is it. Four new programs for 2014!! I have made the commitments. It is time to get down to business. In the next couple of weeks, I hope to have my list of WIPs (Work in Progress) that I would like to complete this year. I am a bit of a slacker and envy my colleagues who are soooo organized. I generally just jump in with arms and feet swinging everywhere!

Stay tuned and thanks again for all of your support and wonderful comments!!

Yours sewingly
Karen

linear refraction

Guten Morgen ladies and gentlemen! Thank you for joining me today along the "Wake Up to Kona" Color Essentials blog hop presented by ! Sew We Quilt and sponsored by Amanda Murphy, Robert Kaufman and Aurifil. This is a very exciting day for me since this is my very FIRST patchwork challenge! Please don't forgot to stop by and explore what my fellow colleagues (for-the-day) have made. You will find a link to their sites at the bottom of my page, so please read on.

Right now, I am on a 60° triangle craze. I am always dreaming of different possibilities with what I can do with this shape. There are two typical quilts to make with 60 degree triangles - the 1000 Pyramids Quilt and a one patch triangle with varying hues, saturation and fabrics. I wondered what else could you make when you add a parallelogram to the design. What other designs and patterns show up?? That was my starting point.

I work a lot with EQ7 when I design quilts. You can see some of my creations at the EQ Gallery. I like to see how everything is going to look beforehand with maybe just a slight change or two. My first challenge was adding the parallelogram into a pattern. EQ7 has the option of making a one-block quilt, but I wanted triangles and parallelograms! How do I make the parallelograms? Duh...just make a one-block strip drawing exactly the shapes you want to include in the quilt. I drew seven different strips with the shapes I wanted. That simple! Here is a preview of the first strip:

I love to work with solids, but I never worked entirely with them, because I don't want my patchwork to look "Amishy". Today, bright and fresh fabric choices are readily available especially in solids. I am very excited when you tell me that you discover solids and are starting to use them in your own quilts. I love to use lots and lots of different fabrics or colors, but I limited myself with this design to just four colors and an anchor. My color choices usually reflect my mood, the weather or a new trendy fabric collection. And with this challenge, I decided to go with the weather. I had winter on my mind. I picked from Kona Chartreuse, Lagoon, Windsor and Crocus as well as Snow to anchor and put them all together.

Are you curious to see what I created? I think I am more excited to show you!

It was a little bit of a battle to get the measurements right, but if I had just printed out the rotary cutting instructions from EQ7 like I was used to, I could have saved myself a lot of seam ripping from the get-go. I did not have any major problems after that. As long as you sew the rows together in opposing directions, and let the seams nest, it will sew together in a snap. I actually spent more time quilting it than sewing it together.

Here it is without the binding:

I really wanted to make this patchwork come to life and designed it with a colored, alternating strip binding. I was almost in a pickle getting the fabric, because I ran out of the chartreuse green. It was on back order, so I ordered it at a second online shop - Quiltzauberei. Thank you for getting it to me so quickly! I applied the strip binding rotating the quilt always to the left for a really special effect. (It is not a continuous binding.)

When it came to quilting, I didn't want to over-do-it. I like the quilting to hold the patchwork in place but not overpower the design. There can always be a second design created when you quilt and I did want to achieve this as well. I quilted 3/8" (0,80cm) on the inside of the white/purple sections and I,5" on the insides of the colored triangles. It makes a secondary pattern in the quilt and turns a couple of triangles into diamonds. And yes, I actually used five different threads when quilting and tied the ends before I pulled them through - no backing stitching! And here she is all finished up:

 

The colors are gorgeous - much more vibrant than pictured here. I love the layout including just one entire row of triangles in the middle. My hubby asked me immediately who was going to receive this little beauty. I quickly replied and told him this was my show piece; it stays in the collection. And it will be staying on my wall for the duration of the winter. I like to think of the sun reflecting off solid ice in the middle of the day and in the evening when the light changes - linear refraction! How many different patterns can you see?

I really enjoyed planning and sewing this quilt - a wall hanging size of ~98 x 98 cm or 38.5 x 38.5 inches. It is a great little piece to show off what you can do. It isn't always easy to get those points lined up the way you want too.

If you would like to make this quilt, I have the free pattern here for download. (There is also an alternate fabric way if you prefer a warmer look.) Donations are welcome via PayPal to karen@easypatchwork.de but are not required.

Please don't forgot to stop by and explore what my fellow blog hop colleagues have made. We are counting on your support! Leave a little love or just a comment will do.There are so many great quilts, large and small, that you have to visit each and everyone's site. They will knock your socks off. When you finish with this little list, go back to ! sew we quilt and look at all of the particpants!!

Life in the Scrapatch

Vroomans Quilts

Bumbleberry Stitches

Upstairs Hobby Room

Sew Many Yarns

easypatchwork

Beaquilter

A big warm thanks to Carol at Just Let Me Quilt and Madame Samm at Sew We Quilt for organizing and cheering us on but most importantly, for inspiring us to inspire YOU!

 Thank you for dropping by. Karen

happy new year 2014!

Greetings everyone from sunny Germany. Yes, the sun is shining today with an average temperature of 0°C/32°F. It is wonderful soaking up the sun rays. The winter months are always very gloomy here since we live in somewhat of an overcast region. Winter can get quite depressing at times, but not this year!

The holidays were great. Everyone seemed to have gained a few more pounds with all of the great food we ate. The kids are ready to go back to school, at least the parents are. ;-) I think they had too much Christmas - staying up late, getting new toys, and not having a regular schedule.

And I am gearing up for my WAKE UP to KONA Challenge. I worked just a little bit more on it last week. I got a little distracted on Monday, because I went to use one of the threads for quilting (the green spool on the post below), and couldn't find it anywhere! I had to drive into Neu-Ulm to get just the one spool. I would be ready to put some binding on it too, IF I had all of the fabric as well. It is currently on back order but luckily not in Customs. I was smart and lucky enough to order fabric locally this time. Kona is readily available here in Germany. I ordered my solids from Quiltmania which has a large supply of Kona as well as Moda precuts.

I am really, really excited to show you a sneak peek, but I think I have already given away more than I should. The quilt will be debuting on January 10, 2014, here on my website as well as on the Sew We Quilt Blog Hop starting on January 7th and lasting through January 21st. Please join us and see what we have made with Kona solids.

I will have the full pattern FREE for download here at my site.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Kind regards,
Karen